Driven by a love for movies, the manifesto is a bit of a utopian dream. Media moguls and rights holders from competing studios and content distribution companies are unlikely to put such a flat process in place.

Deep-rooted issues

Regardless of viability, the manifesto serves as a fair assessment of the problems in the digital media industry driving people to piracy and proves that many are willing to pay for digital media.

So far, 1,607 people have signed the manifesto.

Pierre Spring, one of the leaders of the movement, said: "I hope 'Don't Make Me Steal' will show the movie industry that people who love movies are just waiting for them to leave their legacy business models and embrace the digital distribution."